Twin-spring arch-supporter



UNITED T'E'S JOSEPH H. "WILBER, OF, WINTEROP, MASSACHUSETTS.

TWIN-SPRING ARCH-SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 19, 1921.

Application filed July 28, 1919. Serial No. 314,372.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, JosnrH H. WVILBER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Winthrop, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Twin-Spring ArchSupporters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

The object of this invention is the construction of an arch supporter to be applied with in a boot or shoe, which shall be variably pliable for different sections of the arch, which can be readily adjusted in degree of compression, and will moreover, be comfort able, well ventilated, and inexpensive to manufacture.

I11 the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side sectional view of a shoe and of an arch supporter therein embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a view of the arch supporter from beneath. Fig. 3 is a view of the same from above but with a corner broken away. Fig. 4 is a face view of one of the pressure-adjusting plates. Fig. 5 is a cross section of this plate and a spring-finger.

The twin-spring portion of the arch supporter consists of a thin sheet of resilient metal, as steel or brass, split for the major part of its length by a slot 2 into two sub stantially equal legs 3. The unsplit or head portion of the same at, is riveted at 9 to a comparatively thin strip of leather 5, which overlaps the spring in length and width, as shown in Fig. 2.

Longitudinally and centrally of this leather strip 5 is a row of holes 6 located to come over the slot 2 of the spring. Riveted to this leather to come beneath the extremities of the twin springs 3, is a rubbing plate 7, as shown in Fig. 2, the corners of the spring-ends near the rivets 8 being cut off in order to allow room for the movement of the twin-springs under compression.

In case it is desired to render one or both of the twin-springs more resistant to pres sure, I provide plates 10 composed of resilient metal and adapted to be easily attached to the twin springs, the attaching means consisting preferably of laterally projecting fingers or lugs 11 adapted to be bent about the I presses against the arch of the wearers foot with a. yielding but sufficiently resistant pressure to withstand its tendency to flatten,-

and thereby to aid materially in both curing and preventing the tired feeling so frequently complained of by those having to stand or walk too much, and even helping broken arches.

The slot separating the twin-springs serves both to give independence of action to the latter, and to provide better air circulation beneath and about the feet. The holes 6 through the leather cover 5 are for the purpose of aiding in such circulation.

As shown in the drawings, the slot 2 ends in a round hole 12, for I have found that when this slot is punched in the usual manner, the steel at the end of the slot is very liable to begin to split soon after using until entirely split apart, thereby rendering the arch supporter useless. As also shown, the slot 2 is made wider at its midlength than at its extremities. The reason for this is that since the supporter plate is somewhat concave beneath, laterally as well as longitudinally, the flexing'of the fingers causes them to approach each other at their midlengths, and, if the slot were narrow, to interfere with complete and unimpeded yielding to pressure. By widening the slot at-its midlength, all such interference is prevented. lVhat I claim is:

A twin-spring arch supporter comprising a plurality of separate parallel fingers, and a resilient plate having laterally projecting lugs adapted to be bent about the edges of one of said fingers for attaching it thereto. In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my hand thi 25th day of July, 1919.

JOSEPH H. wiLBEn. 

